Bidders for A’s Await Choice by Authority

Attendance is poor, revenue is low and the team may eventually have to move from a stadium reconstructed for football (not that the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was ever really much of a baseball park), but Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann, who bought the Oakland Athletics for $75 million in 1995, are about to sell the team for $120 million, a decent appreciation given the negative environment.

Two groups have met that asking price, along with a commitment to keep the team in Oakland through 2004, and the Coliseum Authority is expected to decide by Tuesday which one it will forward to major league baseball as the winning candidate.

One group is headed by former A’s executive Andy Dolich and includes Oakland area resident Joe Morgan.

The money man in the other group is Arizona banker Lyle Campbell, but Chicago Cub broadcaster Steve Stone would become president and general manager. The Stone group might be the favorite, if Commissioner Bud Selig has a seat on the Coliseum Authority.

“Steve Stone is heading a group we believe will be the answer in Oakland,” he said during a recent Cub telecast--prompted, perhaps, because he was sitting next to Stone, who won 25 games and a Cy Young Award with the Baltimore Orioles in 1980.

A .227 average and the hot bat of Olmedo Saenz, a minor league free agent, has put A’s third baseman Eric Chavez, the preseason favorite for AL rookie of the year, on the bench. Saenz had driven in 14 runs in 17 games through Friday and was hitting. 319.

Manager Art Howe said, “I wasn’t born yesterday. Danny Murtaugh was the first manager I played for in the big leagues and he showed me that when you get a hot hand, you ride it out.”

The A’s were a team of hot hands and hot heads last week.

Kenny Rogers fought with teammate Jason McDonald on the team flight to Toronto and again in an elevator at the team hotel.

A card game dispute may have triggered it.

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez, in a swift recovery from knee surgery, may rejoin the Seattle Mariners’ lineup by midweek. The Mariners have stayed close enough to be a threat to the Angels and Texas Rangers in the West. The key will be their young pitching. Shoulder injuries have sidelined veterans Mark Leiter and Butch Henry for the season. Rookies Sean Spencer and Eric Weaver were recalled this week to replace them. The Mariners have three rookies in the rotation, five on the staff and two others with less than two years of major league experience. “I can handle a pitcher just out of a diaper or a guy 100 years old if he goes out and pitches the way he’s supposed to pitch,” Manager Lou Piniella said.

There has been no arraignment date set in the aftermath of Darryl Strawberry’s arrest on charges of cocaine possession and solicitation of prostitution. The longer his case drags out, the less likely Strawberry will return to the Yankees this season, although the Yankees are having major problems in left field. Ricky Ledee was batting .182 through Friday, Chad Curtis .160 and Shane Spencer is back at triple-A Columbus.

The Yankees and Angels are among clubs interested in taking on Cuba next. The Baltimore Orioles’ less-than-inspiring performance on Monday night was ripped by Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, who called it embarrassing, and by David Cone, who said the Orioles, preferring a day off, failed to recognize that “some games are bigger than the sport.” He added: “I would love to pitch against [Cuba].”